In a recent post on Harvard Business Online, Writer Scott Anthony uses the term “Great Disruption” to describe the current economic situation. He contrasts the current economy against the Great Depression of the 1930s and warns against falling back on the same strategies Fortune 500 companies used to navigate the economic challenges back then.
He reasons that the current economic situation is a market condition VS. an economic crisis and argues that the highly competitive climate that exists in these times calls for an entirely new set of strategies for dealing with it. The days of leveraging existing business and market share are long gone; in the current market competitive edge often disappears within a few years. Smart companies must constantly be searching for new business in innovative ways in order to retain market share. He quotes Former Intel Chairman Andy Grove when a decade ago he anticipated the current situation when he said “Only the paranoid survive”.
These days it seems that the main strategy is still to fall back on the old threadbare strategies of cost-cutting while focusing on core business. Scott argues “The Great Disruption Simply won’t allow it”. He goes on to suggest some strategies for navigating the “Great Disruption” including finding ways to innovate and explore new avenues for creating new growth businesses.
It appears that the days of retrenching in a tough economic climate are long gone. Smart companies need to not only focus on core business but should also continue to aggressively go after new business by creating and implementing smart marketing programs while embracing new media at the same time. Coupling existing programs with new avenues of reaching consumers is what our Fusion ROI products are all about. By leveraging live communications experiences (trade show or live promotions) and following up with residual marketing activities aggressive marketers will not only survive the “Great Disruption” but will find themselves on the other side with more market share and an elevated brand profile.
